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“LOOKING BEHIND THE DA VINCI CODE” IS THE TOPIC OF A FREE LECTURE BY BRUCE CHILTON ON JUNE 23 PRESENTED BY THE INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED THEOLOGY AT BARD COLLEGE

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—“Looking Behind the Da Vinci Code” is the topic of a free lecture on Friday, June 23, offered by the Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton, author of Mary Magdalene: A Biography. Presented by the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College, the program begins at 6:00 p.m. in the Weis Cinema of the Bertelsmann Campus Center. “Interest in Mary Magdalene has been growing for three decades; speculation about her has been active for well over 1,000 years,” states Chilton. “Legends of enduring popularity in the West have made Mary Magdalene a prostitute, Jesus’ consort, and the flawed mother of a divine bloodline.” Chilton continues, “Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code represents a crescendo of interest, typical of patterns many centuries old, rather than a radical new conception. But where do these ideas come from, and what does our attraction to them teach us about ourselves? With so many controversial options available, can the Mary Magdalene of history be discovered?” Bruce Chilton is the Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion, executive director of the Institute of Advanced Theology, and chaplain of the College at Bard. He is a scholar of early Christianity and Judaism, and the author of the first critical translation of the Aramaic version of Isaiah (The Isaiah Targum, 1987). He has written academic studies that put Jesus in his Jewish context (Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography, 2000; Pure Kingdom, 1996; The Temple of Jesus, 1992; and The Galilean Rabbi and His Bible, 1984). Doubleday recently released Mary Magdalene: A Biography, and Rabbi Paul: An Intellectual Biography, is now in paperback. Chilton has taught in Europe at the universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, and Münster, and in the United States at Yale University (as the first Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament) and Bard College. Throughout his career, he has been active in the pastoral ministry of the Anglican Church; he is currently rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Barrytown, New York. The Institute of Advanced Theology (IAT) was established to foster critical understanding based on scholarship, which aims to make true religious pluralism possible. Since its inception in 1996, the Institute’s work has focused on how religions influence history, society, and other religions, and are in turn influenced by them. The Institute gratefully acknowledges support from members of the Institute, the Crohn Family Trust, and Tisch Family Foundation, as well as grants from The Levy Economics Institute and Bard College. For further information, call 845-758-7279, e-mail [email protected], or visit the website www.bard.edu/iat. # # # (06.13.06)

This event was last updated on 06-28-2006

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